Exceptions
by upthenorthmountain
Summary: A collection of drabbles/deleted scenes that fit in around the main storyline of my longer story, Except You. You should read that first before reading these.
1. Exception 1

July

* * *

><p>Thirty-seven. That is the number of times someone has told Anna that she will love the baby once it's here. Not that she's counting.<p>

She's never even held a baby before.

Yesterday, apropos of nothing, a parlourmaid told her that babies often look like their father at first, but they grow out of it.

Anna wonders if maybe it would be easier to assume that the baby will be exactly like its father, then every day it doesn't behave like a manipulative murdering bastard will be a lovely surprise.

There's a picture in the portrait gallery that never really held her attention when she was younger, but now she often finds herself looking at it. It's a small painting, a very sentimental portrait of a woman holding a baby, and the title on the frame reads _A Mother's Love Is The Purest_.

She doesn't know what scares her more, that she won't love the baby, or that she will.


	2. Exception 2

February

* * *

><p>She remembers thinking at the time that it was almost easier to be in love with him when he wasn't actually there. It's one of the memories that makes her cringe in the daytime and haunts her in the night because, really, how stupid IS she?<p>

Hans went home for a month - in fact nearly six weeks - during their three-month engagement, allegedly to make some arrangements and tie up some loose ends but in reality, she now knows, to get away from her. How much easier to only have to play the lover for as long as it took to write a letter, rather than for every waking hour. She wonders how well he fooled his family, or if he even tried.

The letters are still in the bottom of her wardrobe. She wants to burn them but she can't bring herself to even touch them.

When she had received them she had read them over and over, and kissed them, and tied them with a pink ribbon. But even as she did it there was something self-conscious about it; look at me, I'm in love, this is how people behave when they're in love. These are Precious Memories that I will share with our children and grandchildren.

What a little idiot.

She wonders if she'll ever receive a letter from a man who really loves her. Probably not.


	3. Exception 3

Just after the epilogue

* * *

><p>It's ridiculous to marry someone just so you can go to bed with them. I mean, she is going to marry him - it's not official, but she knows it, and so does he - but not for a long while. Years, probably.<p>

Which is perfectly reasonable and sensible and everyone understands. Kristoff visits the castle, and they talk, and hug, and he plays with Asta, and he kisses Anna goodbye. Sometimes she rides out to visit him at his home, and that's when the trouble usually starts.

She knows his body so well, and more importantly, she knows what it can do, how it can make her feel. But it's risky, far too risky, and the easiest way to make sure you don't go too far is not to start at all.

But when they're alone and far from the castle, with all its prying eyes and propriety almost built in to the walls and furnishings and portraits, it's easy to forget. Easy to let kisses grow longer and deeper, to let hands wander. He always breaks away first, although she can tell how much it pains him; she always lets him go without protest, because she knows that he's right. It's too dangerous.

But oh, she wants him.

And she can't have him unless she marries him.

And it's ridiculous to marry someone just so you can go to bed with them.


	4. Exception 4

Anna was asleep next to Kristoff on the sofa. There were at least three nursemaids employed at the castle, but he knew Anna insisted on having Asta's cradle in her room at night, and he knew that the night before she got hardly any sleep because of it. And now she was dozing next to him, her head back against the sofa cushions, one hand still resting on his forearm.

Asta was asleep on his shoulder. It had surprised him, how easy it had been with Asta. He'd never held a baby before, never really paid them much attention, never given much thought to one day having a family of his own. He hadn't realised Asta was missing until she was there and now it seemed incredible that there had been a time when he didn't know her.

The baby started to wake up, tossing her head and beating at his shoulder with a tiny fist. Kristoff gently put Anna's hand to one side and stood carefully so as not to wake her, then stepped out of the room.

He walked back and forth in the corridor until Asta's eyes dropped closed once more. Then he stood and looked out of the window at the busy courtyard below, at the sails of the tall ships just visible on the fjord, until he heard his voice being spoken in a low voice behind him.

He turned. "Where's Anna?" the queen continued, and he gestured back through the open door. Anna was still fast asleep, now slumped slightly to one side and with her mouth hanging open. Her sister smiled and turned back to Kristoff.

"It was you I wanted to talk to, actually."

"Oh?"

"I don't want to speak out of turn, and I don't know if it's something you've discussed with Anna, but I wanted to be upfront. So there are no misunderstandings." She paused and he nearly said "Spit it out," but managed to stop himself just in time.

"If you wanted to marry Anna - at some point - you would have my blessing," Elsa continued. "I would have no objections, personal or official. And the Council is in agreement with me."

"You've discussed it with them?" he said, surprised.

She looked amused. "Not in terms of specifics; your name has not been mentioned. But I've made it clear that if my sister ever marries again, the social rank of her choice shall have no bearing on his eligibility. He shall stand on his own merits."

"Thank you," he said quietly after a moment. "I'll - keep you updated."

Elsa nodded; then she touched Asta's cheek very gently with one finger, and walked away down the hall


	5. Exception 5

This time the ceremony was in the small chapel in the castle itself, rather than the cathedral.

Anna didn't wear white, of course.

The guest list was much shorter, more exclusive; the dinner was delicious, but less elaborate; there was dancing, but it didn't last long.

Kristoff was wondering how you knew when one of these events was over - was there an announcement, or something? - when he saw Anna slip quietly out of the room. He went to the door and saw her standing by the window at the far end of the corridor, biting her lip as she looked out unseeing at the dark courtyard.

She looked up as he approached, and let him draw her into his arms.

"Is everything all right?" he asked quietly.

She hesitated. "It's stupid."

"If it's bothering you, it's not stupid."

She settled the side of her head against his chest, listened to his heartbeat. Kristoff stroked her back. He thought he knew what was on her mind but wasn't sure how best to reassure her.

"I just wish I was…pure, for you," she said after a moment.

"Anna, you know that doesn't matter to me. It would be pretty ridiculous if it did, honestly."

"I know, but." She sighed. "I was so - and I gave it all to - him. What happened since doesn't change anything. He'll always have been first. Not just physically. Everything."

Silence for a moment as he held her. Then he said, "Anna, are you happy?"

"What? Oh, of course I am, I'm so sorry, Kristoff - we just got married, and I'm - I'm sorry. Of course I'm happy. I love you."

"The trolls say," he said, "that regrets are pointless. Everything that's happened to you - every decision you've ever made - has led you to this point and made you the person you are today. If you're happy now, you can't regret anything in the past, because without it, your life would be different."

"You mean Asta," she said. "I wouldn't have her."

"Of course, Asta, but not just that. Without Hans, we would never have met in the first place."

"I guess."

"And now you're my wife," he said, and the word still sent a thrill through him. "You're my wife and Asta is officially my daughter and we have the rest of our lives to spend together."

She tilted her head back to look at him and he kissed her; after a moment she broke away and said "Speaking of which, I don't think anyone would notice if we went upstairs now."

"Shouldn't we say goodnight -"

She kissed him again, hard, then grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the stairs.

"Purity is over-rated."


	6. Exception 6

Asta has green eyes.

They were dark blue when she was born and Anna honestly expected them to become a lighter blue, like her own, or possibly a sea-green, like her - Anna's - father's. But instead, one morning she picked up her baby and her eyes were bright, vivid green. She almost dropped her.

"You'll get used to it," Elsa said. "After a while they'll just be Asta's eyes."

Probably true, but not especially helpful at that moment.

Kristoff is even less help. He never met Hans, so to him they are just Asta's eyes.

"It's not her fault," he said, "And she'll always remind you of him, one way or another."

Asta's hair has always been, and remains, uncomplicatedly brown.


End file.
